


Operation Hookup

by rubberglue



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-24
Updated: 2012-11-24
Packaged: 2017-11-19 08:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberglue/pseuds/rubberglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When his fiance spends too much time with her long-lost brother, Prince Arthur Pendragon decides that something needs to be done about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Hookup

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunrayravine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunrayravine/gifts).



One would think as crown prince, he would be able to get his fiance to spend more time with him. Perhaps if his fiance was Vivian, his previous girlfriend, that might be true - Vivian was more than willing to have her whole life revolve around him - but no, he had gone and fallen head over heels in love with Gwen who had pecked him on the cheek and disappeared immediately after dinner. 

Ever since her brother, who she had not seen in years after he decided he couldn’t deal with the death of their mother and simply ran away, turned up in London to “be part of his sister’s special day”, Gwen had spent most of her free time with him. And Arthur understood. He did. Should his estranged sister, Morgana, decide to return, he too would want to spend time with her. But it had been days and he’d barely seen Gwen between his duties and preparation for their bigger-than-either-of-them-wanted wedding. He missed her desperately.

"Good thing you're marrying her then," said Merlin, completely irreverently for someone of his station, when Arthur moaned about the sad state of affairs. "What you need to do is distract Elyan. Then, Gwen wouldn't have to spend so much time with him."

And that was how Operation Hookup (Merlin had a limited imagination) started. 

+

It took some work but finally Arthur managed to finagle a private dinner with Gwen. Well, as private as it could be when dining with the prince of Wales that is. One of his Royal Protection Officers, Percival stood at the door, eyes politely averted from the dining table while the other, Leon stood near the windows and stared out of it. Leon and Percy were Arthur’s best men and over the years, some sort of friendship had developed between them. Still, work was work and everyone was very professional.

For a while, the conversation revolved around the nitty gritty details of their wedding and annoyingly, never seemed to segue into talking about Elyan. Arthur figured he needed to take the bull by the horns.

“I told them that I really didn’t want an explosion of roses but -” Gwen grumbled, waving her fork in a manner that would send his father into fits.

“How’s your brother?”

“ - what?”

“Elyan. How is he?”

Gwen placed her fork down and eyed him suspiciously. “He’s alright.”

“Will he be coming to the dinner on Friday?”

“Oh I don’t know. You know, he still hasn’t quite wrapped his head around this whole royal thing. I can barely believe I’m marrying you myself.” 

The familiar wave of panic swept him. Every time Gwen worried about their marriage he panicked because really, he lived in fear that Gwen was going to take a closer look at the ridiculous life he led as a prince and then declare that she wanted no part of it. Sometimes, he himself wanted no part of his life. 

“You can’t back out now.”

Gwen laughed, again in a manner that would probably drive his father nuts, and grinned at him. “I’ve endured countless dress fittings, lessons on courtly behaviour and having my face plastered all over the tabloids under headlines wondering about why you would marry anyone like me and I’m still here aren’t I?”

“You are.” And Arthur knew that if Merlin was here, he would call Arthur a puppy dog but he didn’t care. “Come here.”

Obligingly, Gwen left her half-eaten dessert and slipped onto his lap, her arms sliding around his neck. Arthur fed her his dessert, enjoying the feel of her under his hands.

“About Elyan, tell him I would like him to be at the dinner on Friday.”

Her fingers played with his hair and she nodded. “I suppose it’s about time he got used to this.”

Arthur smiled to himself. He had done his part. Now Merlin had to do his.

+

The dinner started well. Operation Hookup did not.

After a lot of subtle interrogation and investigation, Merlin had decided that an old family friend, Jacob, a minor royalty, would be a great match. The introductions went well enough. Elyan had smiled warmly and Arthur was pleased to note a flicker of interest in Jacob. He supposed that wasn’t surprising. If Arthur was interested in men, Elyan wouldn’t be a bad choice. His facial structure was quite gorgeous and added to that -

“Are you gazing at my brother? Should I be concerned?” Gwen popped up and asked with amusement. 

“Oh! No, I was just -”

“Is that Jacob talking to him?” Gwen’s tone suggested this was a bad thing and Arthur tensed.

“Uh I think so.”

“I hope Elyan’s smart enough to stay away from Jacob - that two-timing ass.” Gwen muttered as she slipped her hand in his. 

“Oh. Erm, look I need to do something.” Quickly disentangling himself from Gwen, he marched off to look for Merlin. Gwen would never forgive him if Elyan got together with Jacob.

In the end, Merlin managed to surreptitiously suggest to Jacob that he should stay away from Gwen’s brother. Arthur sat with Merlin at a corner of the ballroom, watching as Elyan chatted with Percival. 

“That didn’t work.”

Merlin shook his head in agreement. “I’ve a few more candidates. Perhaps you can arrange a family lunch this weekend?”

+

Matthew, a school mate from Oxford, was as boring as a sock so Arthur wasn’t surprised that Elyan ignored him throughout the lunch. After all who wanted to engage in a conversation about the development of fungi? Percival seemed to find the whole thing hilarious and spent most of the time smiling at Elyan’s discomfort.

Merlin’s next prospect was a lawyer, Douglas, who seemed interested in Elyan. Unfortunately, he also seemed to think that courtship involved one-upping Elyan all the time. The dinner at the palace was not made any better when Percival seemed to be in a horrid mood, glaring at them all the time. 

On Thursday, Arthur invited Elyan and Gwen onto his boat for lunch where conveniently, Walter happened to be in the vicinity. Elyan and Walter disliked each other on sight and the whole day ended on a bad note when Percival, with more glee than Arthur thought was necessary, escorted Walter off the boat. 

+

“What are you up to Arthur?” Of course it was too much to hope that Gwen didn’t notice Operation Hookup.

Reaching out to pull her closer, Arthur decided to feign innocence. After all, what proof was there that he was up to something?

She smacked his hands away and crossed her arms across the pretty dress she was wearing - the one he was hoping to tear off her soon. Sadly, it didn’t look like that would happen anytime soon. So much for being prince. “What is with all these people who suddenly crash all our meals? 4 meals and 4 different men happen to be nearby?”

“Life is funny sometimes.” He smiled at her, hoping it would charm her enough to drop the subject.

“No. What is going on?”

“Nothing. I just thought that Elyan would like to meet more people, make new friends -”

“Oh my god. You’re trying to match-make my brother!”

A loud crash from the door startled the two of them. Standing up, Arthur watched as Percival cursed under his breath and picked up the pieces of a vase he had apparently broke.

“Leave it Percy. I’ll get someone to clean it up. Are you ok?”

His answer was a tight smile and a quick nod.

Arthur frowned. Of all his Royal Protection Officers, Percival was by far the most easy-going one. What had riled him up so?

+

“Operation Hookup is over.” Arthur announced to Merlin the next day. “Gwen found out and told me to stop meddling in Elyan’s life.”

“I guess that’s that then. I did warn you. You’re lucky she’s still marrying you.”

“Oh shut up Merlin.” But as Arthur walked out of his office, he gave a sigh of relief. Gwen, as annoyed as she had been, was still marrying him.

+

Arthur wanted to marry Gwen. He just didn’t want the wedding. He should have taken up Gwen’s suggestion that they elope. But no, he had let his father railroad him into “the royal wedding of the century”. 

“Royal weddings of the century” apparently involved countless rehearsals and this was yet another one. Arthur tugged at his uncomfortable clothes and thanked his lucky stars they hadn’t insisted that he wear his crown as he marched down the various rooms in the palace, Leon hot at his heels.

“Are you sure you haven’t seen Elyan?”

“No sir.”

Gwen was so certain Elyan had changed for the better - become more responsible. And now, he had failed to turn up for the reception rehearsal. Not wanting Gwen to realise that her brother had disappeared again, Arthur was determined to hunt him down before the actual rehearsal. 

“And where the hell is Percy? Isn’t he on duty today?”

“Not until later sir.”

Grumbling under his breath, Arthur continued searching in each room - why were there so many rooms in the palace anyway? His family was just him and his father - getting more and more annoyed with every door that he opened. 

He grabbed the door knob, flung open the door, expecting to see nothing like he did the past ten times he did this. 

“Oh.”

+

Breaths mingling, the two figures stared at each other, desire flickering in their eyes.

“This is -”

“- perfect,” groaned the taller one. “I’ve been thinking of this since I saw you at that party.”

“Me too.” The other man let his hand move up the smooth, strong arm of the other, enjoying the flex of muscles under his hand. “Me too. I just thought -”

He was silenced with a deep kiss and he pressed himself closer.

+

Arthur closed the door quietly. The two men were so engrossed with each other, they hadn’t even noticed they had been discovered. 

“Give them 5 minutes, then knock and tell Elyan to haul his ass to the ballroom. And tell this to anybody Leon and you won’t have a job here anymore.”

“Yes Sir.”

Arthur sighed as he made his way back to the ballroom. He really needed to talk to Percival about fraternizing with those he was hired to protect. Still, Arthur couldn’t help his smile. He wondered how Gwen would take the news.

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by sunrayravine a long time ago. :)


End file.
